The fight against hunger starts with access to land, water and seed
Köln, Heidelberg 29. November 2011 - At the end of 2011, approximately one billion people still suffer from hunger. The loss of access to natural resources such as land, water or seed is a principal cause for violations of the human right to adequate food. This often ignored aspect was the subject of discussion at the "Policies Against Hunger IX" conference organized by the German Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, November 21 - 23 in Berlin. About 250 representatives of governments, civil society, academia and business gathered to exchange their knowledge, skills and experience about enhanced protection and just access to natural resources such as land, water, fisheries, forests or seed - focusing especially on the needs of women and other marginalized groups.
Human Rights as foundation for global regulations
The conference in Berlin emphasized that secure and just access to land, water, fishing grounds, forests and plant genetic resources are the key to food security. FIAN explicitly welcomes that the German government underlined this aspect as significant for the realization of the human right to food.
“It is long due that the access and use of mentioned resources be regulated on the basis of existing human rights treaties,” stated Sofia Monsalve from FIAN International.
This aspect is especially important for peasants who constitute the largest group among the hungry. In times of national elites and international companies and banks acquiring large stretches of agricultural land – commonly referred to as land grabbing – the commitment of the German government to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests which are currently negotiated by the Committee on Food Security (CFS), is of great importance.
State Secretary Dr Robert Kloos emphasized that the Voluntary Guidelines are the first international and voted for instruments that treats the question of access to natural resources and that has been created with the participation of all stakeholders. Along the same lines he stressed that after successful negotiations the guidelines need to be implemented as soon as possible.
Responsibility of developed countries
The appeal however shall not only be targeted to developing and emerging countries. Also rich states, including Germany, need to ensure that their politics do not cause any loss of access to land and water.
“Especially our agro fuel and resource policies abet land grabbing rather than sanction the practice” laid out Roman Herre from FIAN Germany. “Be it directly through land grabs, or indirectly through unaffordable lease of land: the global race for arable land causes hunger and poverty at the local level.”
Moreover, the German government needs to ensure that German enterprises and investors do not contribute to violations of the human right to adequate food in other countries.